Chris Dawson speechless over stick North Bay looked on in absolute disbelief as they witnessed the devastation Louisiana and Mississippi sustained when Hurricane Katrina hit land on August 29, 2005.
Chris Dawson speechless over stickNorth Bay looked on in absolute disbelief as they witnessed the devastation Louisiana and Mississippi sustained when Hurricane Katrina hit land on August 29, 2005.
Many rallied to help, they made donations to the Red Cross, students journeyed south to help with the rebuild and for one short week a special sports group gave five boys a week off. A week off from having to deal with their lives being torn apart, so they could play hockey in its original form … on frozen water.
The Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off committee heard about a team from Mississippi, an East Coast Hockey League team that had to disband after Katrina destroyed their rink in Biloxi, and decided to see what they could do. In the end they rallied enough support from the community to bring the five boys, their coach and families up for the tournament.
The team toured the city sharing their story with the media and school groups, and then went out and played their hearts out on the ice. They didn’t win but that wasn’t the point.
Almost six months after the tournament wrapped up and the event is a distant dream as committee is already working on the second annual event, Canadian Pond Hockey Face-off Co-Chair Chris Dawson received a thank you gift in the mail.
Reid Fulmer and his team mates sent Dawson their prized possession they call the ‘Survivor Stick’ and had it signed by Dallas Stars players including star players Jon Klemm and Bill Guerin. The Stars are Dawson’s favourite team.
Reid attached a note to the stick stating the he and his family are still not entirely back to normal in Biloxi.
"We are making small steps but at least you can see some progress! We still have several months to go but we'll get there," states Debbie Fulmer in reference to their home in her short note.
The looks on the faces of the boys and their parents over the course of the weekend was clearly evident the Katrina team was grateful. Grateful that the Pond Hockey Committee and the city rallied together and made it all happen, but it is truly hard to gage the impact the act of kindness had. Reid’s note however, says it all.
"I really had a great time coming to Canada to play hockey. We talk about it all the time with friends.
Thank you so much for inviting us! I really appreciate it and I had a great time! I hope we'll be able to come next year with more teams.
We got you a special hockey stick signed by some of the Dallas Stars. This was a Mississippi Seawolves Hurricane Katrina stick that survived the storm. We thought this would be a nice "thank you" gift since you did so much to bring us to Canada. I hope you like it!"
Reflections on a frozen pondHurricanes and hockey
